And when the funksters tune in, their favourite sounds are not streamed from Melbourne, Sydney or even Guadalcanal. They come from downtown Shepparton.
At a discreet High St address, small green palms and a reception desk made of what could be polished driftwood are the only signs of the remote Pacific destination.
It's from here that a small team of Shepparton digital entrepreneurs is developing new mobile phone products, which include the music streaming app mJams — aimed specifically at the Pacific islands.
Shepparton-born brothers Cameron and Wesley Jackson and business partner Todd Emanuelli have spent the past decade operating from Queensland, creating and selling digital products for mobile phone subscriptions across the Indian and Pacific island markets through their company Mobimedia.
Two years ago they launched mJams in the Solomon Islands, where they now have a healthy 25,000 subscriber base.
When COVID-19 hit, the former Shepparton residents decided to move back home to be nearer family.
Shepparton's Aaron Egan, 22, son of BMX cycle legend Leigh Egan, joined the team 10 months ago, bringing his media marketing expertise to Mobimedia's growing digital footprint.
He said the mJams app was aimed specifically at the Solomon Islands market, which has a big reggae music following. Hip-hop and gospel are also popular.
He said bands were given a revenue share from mJams that was higher than other music apps such as Spotify.
“The Solomon Islands is the hub of music in the Pacific. It's a really friendly music scene and a lot of really good artists come out of there, like Jaro Local, DMP and Dezine. Two of them are among the top five reggae artists in the United States,” Mr Egan said.
He said mJams was also planning to stream into Papua New Guinea, Tonga and American Samoa.
Mr Egan said at the moment, only Solomon Islanders could subscribe to mJams, but any musician with Solomon Islands heritage could appear on the app.
He said Mobimedia had plans to extend its operations and digital services to more countries and larger audiences, including presenting the first ever Pacific islands online live-stream concert before Christmas.
Although there are global plans in the pipeline, for the moment Mr Egan and the Mobimedia team are relishing the chance to work in their home town.
“The boys love being back. We get to have beers on a Friday and walk to work — we're loving it,” he said.
More information at www.mobimedia.com.au
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